The Applicant has now discovered new heterocyclic aminomethyl compounds, more especially aminomethylbenzoxazolinone, -benzothiazolinone and -benzoxazinone compounds, which, contrary to the compounds of the prior art and most surprisingly, no longer have other than a weak affinity for the 5-HT.sub.1A and D.sub.2 receptors. At the same time, these new compounds possess excellent affinity for the D.sub.4 receptors, whereas a comparison carried out on the compounds mentioned in the documents of the prior art established, in effect, that the latter compounds had no affinity for these D.sub.4 receptors.
The D.sub.4 receptors are localized in the corticolimbic structures (frontal cortex, nucleus accumbens and hippocampus) involved in the control of mood and memory (Bloom and Kupfer, in Psychopharmacology "The fourth generation of progress" Raven Press, New York 1995; Meador-Woodruff et al., "Dopamine receptor mRNA expression in human striatum and neocortex". Neuropsychopharmacology, 1996; 15:17-29). In these structures, a subpopulation is localized on the GABAergic type neurons, which also play a key part in the modulation of mood and of the cognitive functions (Bloom and Kupfer, 1995 (already cited)); Mrzkjak et al., "Localisation of dopamine D.sub.4 receptors in GABAergic neurons of the primate brain". Nature, 1996; 381:245-248). Some studies have shown an increase in the density of the D.sub.4 receptors in psychotic patients, while clozapine shows a high affinity for the D.sub.4 receptors (Van Tol et al., "Cloning of the gene for a human dopamine D.sub.4 receptor with high affinity for the antipsychotic clozapine". Nature, 1991; 350:610-614). In addition, noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter involved in psychotic, anxiety and depressive states as well as cognitive and attention disorders (Bloom and Kupfer, 1995 (already cited)), possesses a high affinity for the D.sub.4 receptors (Lanau et al., "Epinephrine and norepinephrine act as potent agonists at the human recombinant D.sub.4.4 receptor". Am. Soc. Neurosci., 1995; 21:252.2). These results demonstrate the value of the products of the invention in the treatment of schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, drug abuse, impulsive states (e.g. aggressiveness) and mnemocognitive disorders. Furthermore, the high concentration of D.sub.4 receptors in the superficial layer of the spinal cord (Matsumoto et al., "Low levels of mRNA for dopamine D.sub.4 receptor in human cerebral cortex and striatum". J. Neurochem., 1996; 66: 915-919) suggests a value in the treatment of painful (e.g. neuropathic or migrainous) states.